1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a housing assembly for a self-inking stamp, and more particularly to a housing assembly for a self-inking stamp wherein the housing assembly comprises an outside protective film to render the entire housing assembly clean and neat.
2. Description of Related Art
Self-inking stamps, such as business address stamps are convenient to print identical messages on different surfaces. With reference to FIG. 6, a conventional self-inking stamp comprises a stationary case (60), an ink pad (61), a printing pad (62), a housing assembly (63) and a restitution element (64).
The stationary case (60) has a top, two opposite sides, a front, two elongated slots (601), two upper detents (602), two lower detents (603) and an ink pad hole (604). The elongated slots (601) are longitudinally defined in the respective sides. The upper detents (602) are respectively defined in the sides over the corresponding elongated slot (601), and each of them has a bottom inclined edge (605). The lower detents (603) are respectively defined in the sides, overlap the corresponding elongated slot (601), and each of them has a bottom inclined edge (606). The ink pad hole (604) is defined in the front at a height above the lower detents (603).
The ink pad (61) is removably mounted and held in the stationary case (60) through the ink pad hole (604), contains ink and has a bottom onto which the printing pad (62) is in contact.
The printing pad (62) is movably and rotatably mounted in the stationary case (60), comprises two sliding studs (621) and has a printing face (622). The sliding studs (621) are slidably held in the respective elongated slots (601) and extend out of the corresponding elongated slot (601). The printing face (622) is usually in contact with the bottom of the ink pad (61) but is pushed down away from the ink pad (61) and rotated 180 degrees to print.
The housing assembly (63) is slidably mounted on the stationary base (60) and comprises a movable case (632) and two pressing keepers (631). The movable case (632) is slidably mounted on the stationary case (60) onto which the extended sliding studs (621) are coupled to so that the movable case (632) moves the printing pad (61).
The pressing keepers (631) are retractably mounted on the movable case (632) and are respectively aligned with the elongated slots (601). Each of the pressing keepers (631) has an engaging device (633) including multiple nubs (634) to engage with either the upper or the lower detents (602, 603) to maintain the movable case (632) at one of two given heights relative to the stationary case (60).
The restitution element (64) is a spring and is mounted on the top of the stationary case (60) in the movable case (632) to return the movable case (632).
A person can press both the pressing keepers (631) inward to the movable case (632) to engage the lower detents (603) to maintain the movable case (632) at a height corresponding to the lower detents (603) to keep the printing face (622) from contacting with the ink pad (61) when the stamp is not in use. If the person presses the movable case (632) downward, the nubs (634) on the pressing keepers (631) will disengage from the lower detents (603) through the bottom inclined edges (606) of the lower detents (603), which permits the movable case (632) to be completely pressed downward to move the printing pad (62) to print.
The person can press both the pressing keepers (631) inward the to the movable case (632) to engage the upper detents (602) to maintain the movable case (632) at a height corresponding to the upper detents (602) so that replacing the ink pad (61) is practical. Likewise, the person presses the movable case (632) downward, whereby the nubs (634) on the pressing keepers (631) will disengage from the upper detents (602) through the bottom inclined edges (605) of the upper detents (602) when the replacement of the ink pad (61) is completed.
However, the entire stamp is not neat because of the extending pressing keepers (631). The pressing keepers (631) extending solely at respective sides of the movable case (632) will cause the entire stamp to be unsightly and unattractive.
Furthermore, contaminants such as dust, skin oil or ink may caulk gaps around the pressing keepers (631), which will propagate bacteria. To completely clean the contaminants from the gaps around the pressing keepers (631) is difficult unless disassembling the pressing keepers (631) off from the movable case (632). Thus, the stamp will become dirty after a long-term use.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a housing assembly comprising a protective film that covers and encloses pressing keepers to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.